How does one achieve high performance without getting burnt out too early or losing the balance and have a high impact, fulfilling life? Captivating, Amazing, Insightful yet Simple, The Victory Project is a book which provides a framework, Simplicity Paradigm, with practical tools to achieve peak potential. The Victory Project is a guide to surviving and thriving in the professional and social domains, which are increasingly becoming tough, competitive, often cutthroat and deeply political. Reading The Victory Project is equivalent to reading many great books given the extensive literature survey, collating anecdotes, insights from leaders in different sectors/industries like Gurucharan Das in Forward, Raamdeo Agrawal, Prof Sanjay Bakshi, Harsh Mariwala and more
In a networked and VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity) world, where collaboration, grit and emotional maturity are often more important than functional knowledge, this book offers a powerful template for development as a holistic leader—Saugata Gupta, MD and CEO, Marico Limited
Table of Contents
About the Authors
The Victory Project is the culmination of two years of research by Anupam Gupta & Saurabh Mukherjea on the drivers of outsized professional success alongside personal fulfilment in professions as diverse as music, cinema, literature, psychology, manufacturing, investing and martial arts.
Saurabh Mukherjea is founder and Chief investment officer of Marcellus Investment Managers. He is the former CEO of Ambit Capital and played a key role in Ambit’s rise as a broker and a wealth manager.
Anupam Gupta is an independent equity research analyst who hosts the popular personal finance podcast Paisa Vaisa.
The Victory Project is the final part of a trilogy on outsized success in competitive fields. It started with “Unusual Billionaires” (on corporate success in 2016), followed it up with “Coffee Can Investing” (on building a portfolio consisting of rare companies, in 2018)”.
The world we live in
The world we live in is very different from that of our parents. But we are not wiser or happier or less stressed
Workplace pressures tend to occupy most of our mind space
And then we all suffer from smartphone addiction with constant exposure to messaging apps, email and social media adds another layer of stress and mental clutter. The harmful effects of this include loneliness, extremism and anxiety.
Thanks to the Internet, we have easy access to enormous amounts of wisdom and—remarkably enough—most of it can be accessed for free or at a nominal charge. And yet this cornucopia of knowledge flatters to deceive.
So how does one achieve peak potential? By following Simplicity Paradigm a six-part framework outlined in the book.
In the book, we can see the evolution of two characters: Akanksha (a Senior VP in an MNC company) and Suraj (a rookie investment banking associate). The challenges faced by them. and how they adopt the Simplicity Paradigm.
Simplicity Paradigm
The book details out The Simplicity Paradigm, six-part framework for achieving peak potential.
Each chapter has with an interview with an expert who they believe exemplifies the core values from the chapter. The experts are from a wide array of fields and their stories contain lessons for all of us. Like Gurucharan Das in Forward, Dr Sharmila Banwat, Raamdeo Agrawal, Prof Sanjay Bakshi, Jason Voss, Harsh Mariwala, Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Manish Sabharwal, Apurva Purohit, Dr Mark Mobius & Music Legends RD Burman and AR Rehman
Simplicity foundation consists of three types of practices—specialize, simplify, and spiritualize in (Chapters 2, 3 and 4 respectively)
On top of this foundation, authors propose three specific behaviours—clutter reduction, creativity and collaboration(in Chapters 5, 6 and 7 respectively)
Finally, they show you their applications and what is possible when you apply the foundation and practices in real life using the examples of simplicity in business and simplicity in investing (in Chapters 8 and 9 respectively).
Practices
Simplicity foundation consists of three types of practices—specialize, simplify, and spiritualize (in Chapters 2, 3 and 4 respectively).
They explain the concepts with the case studies of
Discovering the World of Specialization — A case study how Raamdeo Agrawal built the Motilal Oswal empire.
How to Simplify Your Life – The framework that Sanjay Bakshi, Managing Partner at ValueQuest Capital LLP and Adjunct Professor at Gurugram’s MDI, built around simplicity.
Connecting with Your Inner Self – The spiritual journey of Jason Voss, CEO of Active Investment Management Consulting, LLC, and co-founder of The Sarasota Institute think-tank.
Behaviour
On top of this foundation, authors propose three specific behaviours—clutter reduction, creativity and collaboration (in Chapters 5, 6 and 7 respectively).
With case studies of
- How Marico founder Harsh Mariwala cuts through the clutter
- Develop Your Creativity and Memory – How Sanjeev Bikhchandani, the founder of Edge that owns naukri.co, broke all the rules to make his billions *
- Teaming Up with the Best – Lessons from the multifaceted career of Manish Sabharwal of TeamLease Services.
Each practice stands alone as the desired behaviour but in this book, they also show how the foundation is connected to these practices and how without the foundation, the benefits of the practices would be temporary at best.
Applications
Finally, they show you their applications and what is possible when you apply the foundation and practices in real life using the examples of simplicity in business and simplicity in investing (in Chapters 8 and 9 respectively).
They have case studies of great companies like TCS and Amul and great investors like John Bogle and Rob Kirby of Coffee Can Investing.
How Simplicity Powers the Best Businesses is explained with the case study of How Apurva Purohit built Radio City around the tenet of simplicity.
Building a Simple Framework to Achieve Your Financial Goals with case study of Mark Mobius’s legendary journey in emerging markets’ investing.
Simplicity Checklist
Finally, Chapter 10 pulls everything together to give you a Simplicity Checklist for all these areas. For example, Simple checklist for investing was
- Do you make a list of your goals for which you are investing your hard-earned money? Yes/No
- Do you have a financial adviser for developing a financial plan in alignment with your goals? Yes/No
- Do you stick to simple investments such as index funds, government bonds and Rob Kirby’s coffee can portfolio approach? Yes/No
- Do you track your investments and goals, and do you adjust and realign them as part of the plan? Yes/No
It’s not a book, it draws from hundreds of books
The book talks about so many concepts with detailed research. It covers topics referring to some of the best books, research done. You will find references to great people like Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, Charlie Munger, Jeff Bezos, VV Kurien, Ambani, Birla, Bruce Lee. But also references to great books like Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nation, Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers: The story of success, Peter Drucker The Effective Executive, Daniel Kahneman Thinking, Fast & Slow.
Each chapter references at least 15 books/research material with some like Chapter 6: Develop your creativity & Memory have 37 references and Chapter 9, Building a Simple Framework to Achieve Financial Goals having 47 references.
You get a good summary of concepts like:
1. Anchoring effect of Human Mind.
2. Nick Chater’s ‘Knowledge illusion’ & ‘Multitasking illusion’ with the Royal Bengal Tiger experiment.
3. Human Mind, being a weak memory re-collector, suffers from ‘perceptional bistability’.
4. The debate between ‘generalists’ vs ‘specialist’.
5. Habits form 40% of our decision-making.
6. Buying unnecessary stuff & excessive use of social media leads to ‘Cognitive Overload’.
7.The concept of ‘Optimal Stopping’ while making a critical decision.
8. The ‘SQRQS’ technique for reading & better memory retention.
9. The importance of clearly defined goal-based investing from an early age.
Key Take-Aways of chapter
I loved the Key takeaways at the end of the chapter. For example key Takeaways from, Chapter 3, How to Simplify your Life are
Both in the context of business and in the world of investing simple strategies are easy to understand, easy to implement easy to sell to others and easy to course-correct from. But as easy as simplicity sounds, it is anything but. Most simple systems are in fact the results of complex processes.
How can we achieve simplicity? First, simplify through habit/process/method. Habits work in cycles of routine and rewards.
Studies of the lives of great minds tell us the there are five specific habits that simplify life:
-
- reading intense focused work in solitude;
- rewarding oneself after working hard;
- seeking high-quality input and criticism;
- a well-defined daily routine.
Second, simplify through principles/rules by a) specializing b) being original, and c) combining originality a specialization into deep-focused thought. Develop the rules by being different and having the courage to deviate from the norm. Put in deliberate practice to improve your performance.
Generalists vs Specialist
My favourite was the debate between ‘generalists’ vs ‘specialist’.
Adam Smith articulated the merits of specialization in his book The Wealth of Nations. His idea regarding the division of labour on the lines of specialization provided the basis of ho factories would be organized during the Industrial Revolution and long time thereafter.
Authors such as Malcolm Gladwell (Outliers: The story of success) & Matthew Syed have debunked the notion of talent as the key driver for success. Instead, they have written about the role of social circumstances, immense application, relentless and purposeful practice and enabling environment as keys to success.
The people who rise to the top are those who have
- generalised skills to deal with a variety of challenges
- deep expertise in the core skill or competency offered by profession to its customers.
For example, captain of a cricket team has to be a good cricketer but also have more general skill such as emotional intelligence to get the best out of his players.
The example of Bruce Lee, the ultimate generalist, was an eye-opener. What all Bruce Lee learnt, not only different forms of martial art but also the basics of fencing. He read Western, Taoist, Confucian philosophies but also Jiddu Krinamurthi’s religionless philosophy. Bruce Lee also wrote two martial art guide books. Tao of Jeet Kune Do has become the largest selling martial arts book of all times. Loved the Bruce Lee quote
“Be Water, My Friend.
Empty your mind.
Be formless, shapeless, like water.
You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup.
You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle.
You put it into a teapot, it becomes the teapot.
Now water can flow or it can crash.
Be water, my friend.”
Our Mind a Mystery
Netflix, Social Dilemma, raised the issue of how much information is out there and the effects of Social media on ones’ mental health and the foundations of democracy.
And the first chapter of the book, Peek into the Mind, tries to raise our understanding of the Mind not only the effects of WhatsApp, Twitter notifications but also about the stress that we are facing today
How we suffer from knowledge illusion(i.e we think we know everything) and the grand illusion (ie we think our faculties are stronger than they are).
Our brain cannot multitask. Our memories are manufactured by us.
And Our mind can be manipulated.
And Each of us perceives things differently. So, what do you see in the image below? Do you see an older, unattractive woman or a young woman looking away? It is said that the version you see first and more often can reveal a lot about your age. This image is called “My Wife or Mother-In-Law” and first showed up in 1888 on a German postcard, later redrawn by a British cartoonist, William Ely Hill, in 1915. The study said that we process faces that are more similar to our own ages.
What do you see a young woman or an old woman?
Building a framework to Achieve Your Financial Goals
Managing our personal finances in a simple but effective manner is tricky. As we are likely to be actively mis-sold to or brainwashed into investing in substandard products.
There are a plethora of books, videos and coaches/planners to solve the saving and investing, but they tend to confuse as much as they guide us.
Simplicity Paradigm shows the way to make investing simpler, easier & more effective.
One Simplifying idea is Goal-based investing. Quoting from the book, Brian Portnoy, author of The Geometry of Wealth – How to shape a life of money and meaning,
Wealth, truly defined, is only achievable in the context of a life in which purpose and practice are thoughtfully calibrated.
In isolation, neither deep thoughts nor long checklists is up to the task.
To succeed, clear minds and dirty hands must work together
We all have goals, some of them are personal and some are for our broader family. Almost all of these goals carry a financial cost.
A goal-based financial plan segments these goals into three buckets: security, stability and ambitions
- Security: These goals are extremely important to us and provide protection from anxiety
- Stability: These ensure that we maintain a certain desired standard of living
- Ambitions: These goals help us achieve upward wealth mobility & give us a certain status in our social circle.
It tells us how much of our portfolio needs to be invested in equities bonds and cash. Instead of trying to beat the index and charging high fees index fund mimics over the long run thus achieving higher returns with lower costs than the costs associated with actively managed funds
They use this approach to create investment plans for Akansha & Suraj’s, those fictitious characters in the book. It takes care of specific aspirations and goals using their current salaries and financial positions as their starting points. This approach many would have come across in Coffee Can Investing, The low-risk Road to Stupendous Wealth
Videos on The Victory Project
To watch TEDx Webinary on the book, click here
Video DECODING: THE VICTORY PROJECT
Victory project Overview in Image
The following image gives an overview of the Victory Project
Summary of victory project
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A GREAT book and a MUST read for every aspiring achiever, especially for those who love leadership, business, management and investing themes
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